Posted on 01/28/2018 11:19:00 AM PST by GoldenState_Rose
In the run-up to presidential elections, the Kremlin arguably had more to gain from letting the comedy about Stalin appear in theaters than from imposing another ban -
Which begs the question: What did they fear would happen if they released “The Death of Stalin”?
In their appeal to Culture Minister Medinsky, cultural figures accused the film of “lampooning the history of our country” and “blackening the memory of our citizens who conquered fascism.” The action of the film, however, takes place in 1953 and makes no mention of the war —
The only people who could actually take offense at a comedy about Stalin are those who support him, meaning that the Culture Ministry banned the film out of a sense of personal insult.
What’s more, the authors of the letter were not concerned about the crimes committed by Stalin’s regime... It was the positive image of the dictator that current Russian leaders perpetuate that worried them.
Thanks to television shows about the 1930s-1950s, Stalin has become on onscreen symbol of the ruling authorities and the personification of the underlying idea of all those programs – namely, that the ruling authorities have, and will ever wield control over society.
Making a mockery of Stalin, therefore, is tantamount to mocking the leadership and is an inadmissible act.
These Russian programs inspire viewers to appreciate, above all, the “greatness of that era” – before which all of the crimes and innocent victims of Stalinism pale in comparison.
The guardians of Russia’s political order were scared not that some hypothetical viewer might be offended, but that audiences would grasp the message of the film very clearly: that every all-powerful regime ultimately meets with the same unhappy end.
(Excerpt) Read more at themoscowtimes.com ...
In the last 27 years, Russia has failed to discuss an extremely important topic...
Mourners Crushed at Stalin’s Funeral
http://soviethistory.msu.edu/1954-2/succession-to-stalin/succession-to-stalin-texts/mourners-crushed-at-stalins-funeral/
I think what bothers the authorities, is that you are just one step away (if you accept this movie) from some lampoon of Putin and team.
In fact, you could easily go right now and lampoon just about every single democracy in the EU.
You’re another person who allowed your hate for Obama and fear of migrants distort your entire narrative of reality and of history - not having a clue about just how bad Russia’s government is or that they’re the ones with the Muslim-poiuplation crisis way more than even Germany.
The E.U. is NOT Europe - but you’ve equated the two.
And even with Trump as President, everything America does is “Neo-Con.”
Fine, go fight for Russia then, alongside their allies Turkey, Iran, heck even North Korea and save civilization.
For the record, I don’t think there is any impending war with Russia on the horizon in the LEAST - the REAL story is what’s happening INSIDE Russia and the future the Russian people will be determining for themselves.
The Moscow Times
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Moscow_Times#Notable_events
[Excerpt:]
In the aftermath of the Ukrainian crisis, The Moscow Times was criticized by a number of journalists including Izvestia columnist Israel Shamir, who in December 2014 called it a “militant anti-Putin paper, a digest of the Western press with extreme bias in covering events in Russia”.[3]...In January 2014, malicious ads on the newspaper’s website redirected visitors to an exploit kit landing page.[21] In December 2014, The Moscow Times was forced offline for two days by a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack. It was forced offline a second time in February 2015 for unknown reasons.[3]
Sad that the Russians still pretending that Communism isn’t just as evil as what they crow about having defeated.
it ended up being even worse and doing ten times the damage around the globe.
and the Germans, albeit imperfectly, at least make an effort to acknowledge their past crimes.
Interesting article. I visited Russia about two years ago, and one of the interesting things that people told me is the reason they liked Putin was that he had brought order to a country that, with the collapse of its government, had become completely out of control.
I don’t think he was interested in reinstalling the Soviet system, and I don’t think he believes Communism is the answer. But, reading various reports, it seems as if there has been a revival of Party people, and since Putin has probably been weakened by the Trump-Russia stupidity in the US, he may not be able to resist the nostalgia among bureaucrats for the Party.
Bad times, and I think one of the things the Dems hate about Putin was that he actually didn’t want to extend Communism but wanted to move to a free (but not criminal) economy and a sort of “ordinary” (non-Party) political system. The Dems want all of the bad things back.
The average Russian still greatly admires Reagan, because they know he said the truth about the Soviet Union.
That being said, I believe the average Russian is not particularly a fan of our kind of Democratic system, and I will be the first to say, that our system isn’t for everyone. They seem to prefer having a strong hand running things in The Kremlin, that’s how they are conditioned to think, going all the way back to the days of Ivan the Terrible.
Fear of migrants? LOL. It’s not nice to call other people names on this board or I’d call you an incredibly large idiot :). And I will call that post one of the most idiotic and way off Target posts of the year. There is no Rhyme or Reason to it and sounds like it written by an angry drunk spouting things he knows nothing about.
Perhaps you love Obama and love the as you call migrants. You might be on the wrong board.
Most the rulers of Russia remain defiantly Soviet in their heart of hearts. This is beyond logic and reason.
It doesn't mean Russians will be mean to Americans (on the contrary as I'm sure you witnessed) -- but historically, they do have genuine envy and resentment with how the world turned out and have trouble taking the blame.
They blame America and the West not just for the 1990s, but even for Stalin's crimes. Look at the quote from the article:
"In the last 27 years, Russia has failed to discuss an extremely important topic, which is that totalitarian regimes consider the use violence not just a tool, but as an end in itself.
According to the official Russian line, violence was perpetrated by unnamed “dark forces” acting under Western influence, or else it simply happened “by itself,” with nobody to blame.
It's really sad because it's this type of thinking they feel gives them license to sabotage other neighboring former Soviet countries who may want to take a direction different from the Kremlin line.
Because naturally, by resenting America -- you also resent the values America stands for: freedom, rule of law, dignity of the individual, human rights -- and in their efforts to undermine the image of America, the Russian people have undermined their own opportunity to adopt some of those principles for themselves.
On top of that, by not facing up to their past or repenting, they have only given free rein and housing for the same demons to continue to operate and dredge up the same old realities that led the people to the brink of self-annihilation in the first place.
As Gulag historian Anne Applebaum points out, "Like a Pandora's box, the past lies in wait for the next generation."
“Free Republic” - of which Russia is not.
The sad thing is that the US, under Roosevelt and his successors, was either very supportive of Stalin or turned a blind eye to him. You still can’t write or talk about his destruction of Russia in respectable academic circles.
Yeah but they don’t have the same nuclear arsenal or historical foundations and wherewithal to launch a genuine front against us - moral, military - via military satellites or otherwise.
Soviet ideology, Soviet sympathizers in key sphere of society destroyed and continue to destroy the U.S. from within. And even conservative Americans have a distorted sense of our own role in history and have given up the pride we should take for our role in defeating both Nazism and communism.
(And no I’m not advocating America be like Russia and sugarcoat our history or our politics either.)
In terms of bloodshed, in the 20th Century alone: it wasn’t just Russians who died in the name of Leninism/Stalinism -> but people ALL OVER THE WORLD. China under Mao, Cambodia under Khmer Rouge, and good grief the list goes on.
Stalin even set up the State existing in North Korea to this day. (A state which Putin’s Russia continues to support and help prop up by the way.)
Bkmrk.
Revolutions, like trees, must be judged by their fruit, Ignazio Silone wrote, China under the “Great Helmsman”, Kim Il Sung’s North Korea, Vietnam under “Uncle Ho”, Castro’s Cuba, Ethiopia under Mengistu, Angola under Neto, Afghanistan under Najibullah,...wherever Communism was established it quickly led to crime, terror and repression.
from The Black Book of Communism
There is a parallel here with the Russian government not releasing a Stalin film and the Deep State not releasing the texts and notes from the FBI and Justice department.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.